Technology Lab —

Zune HD apps are here… complete with pre-roll ads

The first batch of apps for the Zune HD can now be freely downloaded from …

Apps for the new Zune HD (read our review) are now available... with an unexpected "bonus": static and video ads that play during launch.

Nine apps are available: calculator, weather, Texas hold 'em, Sudoku, Space Battle 3, Shell Game... Of the Future, Hexic, Goo Splat, and Chess. They can be downloaded freely from the "Marketplace" menu on the device, and a new "Apps" menu item then appears on the main screen (you'll need to scroll down the main menu to see it, as it's pushed off the bottom of the first screen). Apps function just as you'd expect—they're small programs that look great and really take advantage of the nice screen. They are all professionally designed by Microsoft, though a couple are really worthless (ahem, Shell Game... Of the Future), but hey, they're free!

Or, rather, they're "free," since Microsoft has apparently decided to sell ads against them. The ads show up during app launch, which takes an astonishingly long time. Booting Chess took 30 seconds, though I suppose one could be grateful for the Kia Soul video that gives the eyes something to do.

Ads don't show up (or at least they haven't yet) when launching the utility apps, calc and weather; instead, they are limited to the games. The games themselves are bright, colorful, and work much better with the touchscreen than they ever did with the touch pad in the last Zune models. Chess and Sudoku, especially, look like an excellent diversion when you have a few minutes to kill.

The apps are all touch-enabled, though it looks as though only the calculator takes advantage of the accelerometer; twisting the screen into landscape mode switches the calculator to a scientific model.

Like the Web browser, the apps feel like a decent "bonus" on a generally excellent media player, though none are exceptionally compelling. Reactions to the ads may differ, though it is possible to avoid them by keeping games off the Zune HD.

167 Reader Comments

Um, the video seems to be locked to 'users with permission' only... Other than that, the concept of ads before the app launches sucks.

Edit: Video seems to be working now!

Edit (again): Having seen the now working video, the ads suck even more in practice than they did conceptually. I think I would throw my Zune at a hard surface after more than one or two of those app launches.

BTW, why the hell does the management at Microsoft believe they need to be in every tech market space? It's starting to look like these guys are becoming the proverbial "jacks of all trades, masters at none."

Call me crazy, but I would rather pay for an app than be subjected to ads every time I launched it...particularly with those rather slow launch times. 30s for chess seems like a really long time for a 2D sprite based game to me.

What happens when Project Gotham is released? Will I have time to make coffee? Hopefully, the load times can be improved with some OS optimization.

BTW, why the hell does the management at Microsoft believe they need to be in every tech market space? It's starting to look like these guys are becoming the proverbial "jacks of all trades, masters at none."

Did you see the article where they said they cost about 5% of a PC? The problem is that if all PCs are worth $300 then their profit margins fall by 70%. It isn't here, yet, but already a fifth of all PCs are netbooks, so about a quarter of all PCs cost under $400 or so. Eventually the $1k PC will be considered high end (the way that $2k PCs are today) and the $200 PC will be considered budget (the way $400 PCs are today) and the average selling price will be $350.

Originally posted by Fotek:Having seen the now working video, the ads suck even more in practice than they did conceptually. I think I would throw my Zune at a hard surface after more than one or two of those app launches.

Absolutely. Trust Microsoft to screw up a promising launch like this. I mean, with Apple pretty much ignoring the iPod Touch this round, Microsoft has a fighting chance of getting some market share in the touchscreen media player market. But noooo, they have to go dig the ol' footgun out of the closet again with 30 second video ads required to launch a chess game? If I worked in the Zune group I'd be pissed.

at first I thought thats terrible. But as long as the ads are limited to the games... There are not many free good games for the iPhone.

They should have been shot if they had added ads to the weather or calculator though.

Just one question: Is 8 seconds the time till the Weather widget has started (which would be awful (2 seconds on my Touch) or till the weather app has synced with the server (which is also <10 sec on the Touch.

This is insane. First, Sony put freaking ads into games I had already bought (with, you know, actual money, expecting them to not have any ads in them). And now this. At least now I know not to buy a Zune in the first place.

HD Radio is a US only technology and the HD radio hardware in the Zune isn't compatible with the DAB digital radio standard used in parts of Canada and much of Europe. I can't see Microsoft selling hardware that can't be used so don't expect to see the Zune HD outside the US unless Microsoft decide to forego the radio component completely for the 'rest of the world' market.

This is pretty decent disappointment to me. I am not a big fan of ads and really hate being forced to watch them. I have been really excited about the prospect at getting a Zune HD, really excited. This has me feeling a little less sure of the purchase. I think so far they have gotten a lot of this device right, but ads on every single free game is a real downer. At the bare minimum they should offer an ad-free version of the apps for some monetary sum. That way the consumers can decide. Some people will take the free apps and be happy, while other will pay Microsoft money for no ads and be happy. Win-Win. I would gladly play a couple of buck for a good app without ads. DAMN You Microsoft, hope you fix this poor choice.

Originally posted by JPan:at first I thought thats terrible. But as long as the ads are limited to the games... There are not many free good games for the iPhone.

They should have been shot if they had added ads to the weather or calculator though.

Just one question: Is 8 seconds the time till the Weather widget has started (which would be awful (2 seconds on my Touch) or till the weather app has synced with the server (which is also <10 sec on the Touch.

The calculator takes the same amount of time; Zune appears to be launching some sort of runtime environment (otherwise it's hard to see why a tiny calc app would take so long to load).

BTW, why the hell does the management at Microsoft believe they need to be in every tech market space? It's starting to look like these guys are becoming the proverbial "jacks of all trades, masters at none."

Did you see the article where they said they cost about 5% of a PC? The problem is that if all PCs are worth $300 then their profit margins fall by 70%. It isn't here, yet, but already a fifth of all PCs are netbooks, so about a quarter of all PCs cost under $400 or so. Eventually the $1k PC will be considered high end (the way that $2k PCs are today) and the $200 PC will be considered budget (the way $400 PCs are today) and the average selling price will be $350.

And Microsoft will need a different cash cow.

And it appears to me that their "strategy" is to throw money at anything and hope something sticks. They know Windows is a dead end, and at this point, they are out of ideas. The problem is thus:

1. Are they a consumer company? 2. Are they an enterprise company?3. Are they a search engine company?4. Are they a social apps company?5. Are they a games company?

And so on and so on. I just don't see how trying to be everything is a sustainable solution, especially when their competitors are very focused on core markets.

If it's just the free games, it's still lame, I have a lot of free games on my iPhone, even some high profile games like Top Gun, Hero's of Sparta and Real Soccer 2009 that were free for a limited time and they don't even have ads. Even the truely free games some of thos don't have ads and if the do, they are small and don't interfere with the loading of the games. Big thumbsdown.

This would not make me happy. I got the impression Microsoft was trying to one up the iPod Touch by including free games, but ad-supported applications just don't feel "free" to me. I'd rather pay a couple bucks for an app than to have to suffer through an ad every time I fire it up.

What happens if you turn off the Wi-Fi? Do the ads cache or are they streamed in?

Originally posted by JPan:at first I thought thats terrible. But as long as the ads are limited to the games... There are not many free good games for the iPhone.

They should have been shot if they had added ads to the weather or calculator though.

Just one question: Is 8 seconds the time till the Weather widget has started (which would be awful (2 seconds on my Touch) or till the weather app has synced with the server (which is also <10 sec on the Touch.

The calculator takes the same amount of time; Zune appears to be launching some sort of runtime environment (otherwise it's hard to see why a tiny calc app would take so long to load).

What happened to thus Zune being more powerful that Apple's hardware? Or is it just the software that is crappy?

Originally posted by JPan:at first I thought thats terrible. But as long as the ads are limited to the games... There are not many free good games for the iPhone.

They should have been shot if they had added ads to the weather or calculator though.

Just one question: Is 8 seconds the time till the Weather widget has started (which would be awful (2 seconds on my Touch) or till the weather app has synced with the server (which is also <10 sec on the Touch.

I have about 20 free games that would beg to differ. And id say all but 2 are more advanced than anything shown here, not counting the advanced strategies of chess which really doesnt come in to play. Keep telling yourself that though.

Originally posted by nhlkoho:Who cares? They are free. If you don't want to see it, then don't use them. I don't mind since I bought my Zune to, you know, actually listen to music. It also works well streaming to the 360.

For a few dollars more you could have gotten a device that is better for music and has a ton of great apps.

Originally posted by nhlkoho:Who cares? They are free. If you don't want to see it, then don't use them. I don't mind since I bought my Zune to, you know, actually listen to music. It also works well streaming to the 360.

I think a lot of people will care.

That's great ot works with the 360, kinda like how I can manage all of my music, podcasts, movies, music videos, books, photo's and YouTube, also rent and buy movies from my iPhone to my Apple TV, or just use the Airport Express hooked to my stereo and listen to my music all the while controling it with my iPhone, including the volume. It's awesome and there are no ads, lol.

Originally posted by nhlkoho:Who cares? They are free. If you don't want to see it, then don't use them. I don't mind since I bought my Zune to, you know, actually listen to music. It also works well streaming to the 360.

This is my favorite defensive answer type. "Yeah so what, i didnt buy it to play games, run apps, watch movies, i bought it solely to listen to music and as i opened the box i vowed never to touch anything else that isnt music on the device EVER!"

BTW, why the hell does the management at Microsoft believe they need to be in every tech market space? It's starting to look like these guys are becoming the proverbial "jacks of all trades, masters at none."

Did you see the article where they said they cost about 5% of a PC? The problem is that if all PCs are worth $300 then their profit margins fall by 70%. It isn't here, yet, but already a fifth of all PCs are netbooks, so about a quarter of all PCs cost under $400 or so. Eventually the $1k PC will be considered high end (the way that $2k PCs are today) and the $200 PC will be considered budget (the way $400 PCs are today) and the average selling price will be $350.

And Microsoft will need a different cash cow.

And it appears to me that their "strategy" is to throw money at anything and hope something sticks. They know Windows is a dead end, and at this point, they are out of ideas. The problem is thus:

1. Are they a consumer company? 2. Are they an enterprise company?3. Are they a search engine company?4. Are they a social apps company?5. Are they a games company?

And so on and so on. I just don't see how trying to be everything is a sustainable solution, especially when their competitors are very focused on core markets.

I get your drift but that's not a very compelling argument against Microsoft's business choices.

1) Of course they are a consumer company, the whole world uses their main product.

2) They have to be an enterprise company, that's merely an extension of their main product and it would be foolhardy to let another competitor dominate that space. Think of how much cross over exists and how influenced our consumer choices are by decisions made at the work place -> see RIM (Apple is trying to do the reverse with the iPhone).

3) You do realize for example that Facebook and Google are competitors. Its about organizing the web and how we interact with it and less about the revenue.

4) Social apps...that's so trivial. Apps are a drop in the bucket even for Apple.

5) Games company? Again trivial in the scope of things. The 360 main push may be games but its about controlling the living room and controlling how content is delivered there. That includes: movies, music, games, television. As Natal is introduced it will even change how we buy items online.

They are spread out for sure but notice how everything in the end ties down to software. They are simply making sure that its their software that delivers that experience.

Originally posted by nhlkoho:Who cares? They are free. If you don't want to see it, then don't use them. I don't mind since I bought my Zune to, you know, actually listen to music. It also works well streaming to the 360.

This is my favorite defensive answer type. "Yeah so what, i didnt buy it to play games, run apps, watch movies, i bought it solely to listen to music and as i opened the box i vowed never to touch anything else that isnt music on the device EVER!"

Originally posted by nhlkoho:Who cares? They are free. If you don't want to see it, then don't use them. I don't mind since I bought my Zune to, you know, actually listen to music. It also works well streaming to the 360.

This is my favorite defensive answer type. "Yeah so what, i didnt buy it to play games, run apps, watch movies, i bought it solely to listen to music and as i opened the box i vowed never to touch anything else that isnt music on the device EVER!"

You're right, I have an iPod touch for that. The Zune HD interface is so much better than my iPod and it sounds a hell of a lot better as well. Plus I have a radio as well.

5) Games company? Again trivial in the scope of things. The 360 main push may be games but its about controlling the living room and controlling how content is delivered there. That includes: movies, music, games, television. As Natal is introduced it will even change how we buy items online.

Kinda like what Apple, iTunes and Apple TV are already doing, hmmm. Admittedly not many Apple TV's out there compared to Xbox's, but it is something Apple is already doing.